A San Fernando Valley man has been charged with a series of robberies including the attempted heist of a Downey donut shop on Valentine’s Day in which an employee grabbed his own gun and fired, chasing the alleged assailants out of the store, officials said Thursday.
Antonio Bland, 34, of North Hollywood, is charged with one count of attempted interference with commerce by robbery — known as a Hobbs Act offense. Bland, who was in state custody until earlier this week, made his initial appearance Wednesday in Los Angeles federal court and was ordered jailed without bond, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
His arraignment is set for June 10 in downtown Los Angeles.
Two other suspected accomplices — Ronnie Tucker, 22, of Long Beach, who is expected to be transferred to federal custody in the coming weeks, and Abigail Luckey, 49, of North Hollywood, who was the alleged getaway driver in the attempted robbery of the donut shop — also face attempted Hobbs Act robbery charges.
Luckey was ordered released on bond in state court but has since failed to appear in court and is considered a fugitive, prosecutors said.
According to an affidavit filed May 13 with the complaints, from Jan. 29 to Feb. 14, Bland and his accomplices are suspects in armed robberies of 11 other businesses: a smoke shop in Tustin, nine 7-Eleven stores in North Hollywood, Burbank, Torrance, Van Nuys, Long Beach, Glendale, Pasadena and a donut shop in Los Angeles.
“We’ve seen too much violent gun crime in our community and it has to stop,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement. “Our Operation Safe Cities initiative is intended to do just that. Violent criminals should take heed that federal and local partners are collaborating more than ever to ensure that there are consequences for those who engage in gun crime.”
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the robberies typically occurred late at night and usually involved two men who entered each business wearing hooded sweatshirts and face masks. In several of the robberies, a getaway driver waited outside for the subjects to complete the robbery and fled the scene in a white four-door sedan when the subjects returned to the vehicle.
The spree ended after Bland, along with two other individuals, committed an attempted armed robbery of the donut shop in Downey during the early morning hours of Valentine’s Day, the affidavit states.
Once the subjects entered the donut shop, one yelled, “Open the cash register!” The employee noticed that one of the subjects, believed to be Bland, had what appeared to be a handgun tucked into his front waistband with the handle visible. Fearing that the subjects were going to harm him, the employee ran toward the rear kitchen area from behind the main sales counter. The subjects jumped the counter in pursuit of him. The employee retrieved his own firearm to defend himself. To deter the suspects from attacking him, he fired at least one shot, hitting a wall of the building.
After the employee fired, the subjects ran out of the store.
Law enforcement witnessed the attempted robbery and, shortly afterward, pulled over a car containing Bland and two other individuals, and later allegedly retrieved a firearm from the vehicle.
If convicted, Bland and the other defendants would face up to 20 years in federal prison, prosecutors noted.